UTRECHT: Dutch industrial technology company Aalberts N.V. on Thursday reported a marginal decline in third-quarter revenue and a drop in core earnings, as it navigated persistent softness in its key end markets.
The company reported revenue of 772.5 million euros ($822 million) for the quarter, a slight organic decline of 1.9% compared to the same period last year. Earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation (EBITA) fell to 96.3 million euros from 106.2 million a year earlier.
The EBITA margin contracted to 12.5% from 13.7%, pressured particularly in its building and semiconductor segments.
“In challenging market environments, we continued our focus on added value margin protection, cost out, operations excellence programmes,” the company said in a statement, highlighting efforts to preserve profitability.
CEO Stéphane Simonetta said the performance “remains impacted by the softness of our end markets,” but that actions taken would strengthen the company when conditions improve. He forecast a full-year EBITA margin of around 13%.
Performance diverged across the company’s three main segments. The building segment saw organic revenue growth of 3.2%, though its EBITA margin fell to 10.8%. The industry segment’s revenue declined organically by 1.1%, but it held its EBITA margin steady at a robust 17.7%.
The semiconductor technologies segment was the weakest, with organic revenue plunging 17.8% due to lower demand, and its EBITA margin falling to 13.2%. Aalberts said it expects short-term pressure in this unit but remains confident in the “attractive” mid- and long-term fundamentals, driven by advancements in AI.
On portfolio moves, Aalberts confirmed the intended acquisition of GVT in the Southeast Asian semiconductor market is expected to close in the coming weeks. The integration of recently acquired companies Paulo and Geo-Flo in North America is said to be progressing well, while the company continues to work on divestment opportunities in its building and industry segments.
The company also completed a 75 million euro share buyback programme on August 4.
Aalberts shares are listed on Euronext Amsterdam under the symbol “AALB”.